Pegatron

While just 15% of the load has been tipped to be assigned to Pegatron, the iPhone 6 appears to be headed to full production, with multiple manufacturers in play. This model with a 4.7-inch display has been rumored for several weeks to be just one of two iPhone 6 models being prepared for production, the other significantly larger.

There's been a lot of chinwag recently about a low-cost, budget iPhone that would sell for under $100. However, these various reports may be slightly exaggerated. According to Pegatron Chairman T.H. Tung, the "budget" iPhone that we've been hearing all about won't actually be cheap by any means, and we shouldn't expect to pay just $100 for it.

It would appear that the order for the next-generation devices in both smartphone and tablet form have hit the manufacturing line Pegatron if reports today hold steady. The folks at Pegatron have more than once been suggested to be taking on more Apple orders of late, with the first iPad mini and the "budget" iPhone for later this year appearing both inside and outside of Apple's general favorite for such duties: Foxconn.

As we noted yesterday, Apple's Tim Cook hinted that variations of the iPhone, such as versions that fall at different price points, could be in the company's future. Rumors of a low-cost iPhone have been circulating for months now, with at one point Apple's Phil Schiller saying such a device will never have a future in the company's products. Despite that, the rumor is still alive, and today sources told the Wall Street Journal that a low-cost iPhone is expected to be made available later this year.

Here's an interesting little story as the news day winds down: according to the Economic Daily News out of Taiwan, the iPad Mini has entered mass production. Of course, with the iPad Mini rumored to be revealed sometime next month, that probably isn't going to come as a shock to most people. After all, Apple's probably expecting this new tablet to fly off the shelves like every other iDevice before it, so it needs to be ready.

Microsoft's pricing mystery around the new Surface has become the slates' biggest point of contention, with analysts and rumor-mongers weighing in on how many dollars stand in the way of success. Having announced the pair of tablets on Monday with relatively sparse hardware details, Microsoft played it coy with both price and availability for the Windows RT-based Surface and Windows 8-based Surface Pro. However, there are already suggestions that the pair could be priced out of contention.

The group known as Pegatron Corp. have become the next in a line of companies creating hardware based around Android and Chrome OS to have signed a patent agreement with Microsoft. It's been some weeks since we heard the last case of this happening, but what each of these cases have amounted to is the same as what's going on here: Microsoft owns a gigantic batch of patents, many of which cover devices whose functionality lends itself to Android. In this case, both Android and Chrome devices made by Pegatron might otherwise have fallen under Microsoft's lawsuit umbrella unless Pegatron made an agreement with Microsoft like they're doing here to give them cash per unit sold.

Apple has strong-armed its MacBook Air manufacturer into refusing to construct ultrabooks for rival ASUS, with Pegatron being given a Cupertino ultimatum to pick between the two accounts. Apple was reportedly frustrated by the resemblance of the ASUS Zenbook range to its own ultraportable, China's Commercial Times reports, particularly in terms of the exterior design which uses a unibody construction.

Intel is matchmaking vendors and manufacturers in an attempt to ensure the success of its ultrabook segment, pushing brand names into the embrace of ODMs promising ultraportables as cheap as $599. Epson, Onkyo, ViewSonic, Mustek, Motion Computing, WiPro and Positivo have all placed orders with Pegatron and ECS, DigiTimes reports, after Intel put them altogether for notebook speed-dating .